Earlier this year, the U.S. National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health released new nanotechnology design recommendations to help reduce worker exposure to nanomaterials. “Workers in industries that use or make these uniquely engineered nanomaterials may inhale nanoparticles on a daily basis, posing a potential respiratory hazard,” NIOSH says in a press release. “Each workplace design solutions document provides key tips on the design, use, and maintenance of exposure controls for nanomaterial production, post processing, and use.” The documents prepared by NIOSH cover: handling and weighing of nanomaterials when scooping, pouring and dumping; harvesting nanomaterials and cleaning out reactors after materials are produced; processing of nanomaterials after production; working with nanomaterials of different forms, including dry powders or liquids. See more NIOSH resources on safe production and use of nanomaterials...

From AIChE’s “Process Safety Beacon” newsletters so far this year: Aging facilities and infrastructure – “Aging does not necessarily relate to how old a facility or piece of equipment might be. It is really about how well it has been operated and maintained.” Maintain a sense of vulnerability – Understand the hazards of your process and materials. Know what the worst-case incident is, and what safety systems and procedures are in place to prevent it. … Never think ‘it can’t happen here’ or ‘it can’t happen to me.’ It can!” Reporting and investigating near misses – “Following a major process safety incident, investigators often find that there were previous warnings and near misses. If these had been reported, investigated, and investigation findings implemented, the major incident could have been prevented.” Runaway reactions caused by contamination – “When you check safety information (safety data sheets, operating procedures, etc.) for materials in your plant, pay attention to possible hazardous reactions such as decomposition and polymerization as a result of contamination. Be aware of any specific contaminants of concern which are present in your plant.” Could your plant be impacted by a natural disaster? – “If you identify something which you think is important, and which is not covered by the existing plans, bring your concerns to the attention of your supervisors so the plans can be...

From C&EN a few weeks ago: Azidophenylalanine poses explosion risk, written by Carmen Drahl The unnatural amino acid 4-azido-l-phenylalanine (shown, left) carries an explosion risk, a new study shows (J. Org. Chem. 2018, DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.8b00270). The azide group isn’t found in biology, which makes it handy for attaching probes to biomolecules. The amino acid is expensive, however, so postdoctoral researcher Mark B. Richardson, professor Gregory A. Weiss, and colleagues at the University of California, Irvine, developed a cost-effective synthesis. “We found this explosion risk entirely by accident,” Richardson says. Organic chemists are wary of azides, so the team used differential scanning calorimetry to watch the decomposition profile of all the intermediates in the copper-catalyzed reaction they used to build the molecule. The intermediates, some of which they worried would be problematic, turned out to be safe. But azidophenylalanine, included in the study for completeness’s sake, behaved like an explosive compound. To minimize risks, labs should avoid storing crystalline samples of azidophenylalanine for extended periods, Richardson says. Protecting the amine removes the explosion risk and is a good prestorage strategy. Biochemistry labs should consider keeping all stocks of azidophenylalanine in dilute aqueous solution, he adds. Sometimes people become complacent about risky functional groups, he says. “The fact that we didn’t see this coming speaks...

Today at the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans: CHAS: Water Supply Safety 9:00 AM Grand Salon D Sec 21, Hilton New Orleans Riverside Introductory Remarks Waukesha water: Bridging the divide Laboratory safety is impacted by changes in water quality Iron as an indicator of water system corrosion and compromised disinfection: Argument for regulating iron and small system corrosion control Lessons learned from the Elk and Dan River disasters: Enhancing science support for water resource protection and crisis communication in spill-incident response Computational chemistry support for water resource protection: Developing rapid and accurate computational methods to predict physical properties for environmental fate and toxicity modelling Panel Discussion Also notable: CINF sessions on chemical information literacy, morning and afternoon in River Bend 1, New Orleans Marriott Convention Center. Teaching students how to identify good chemical information is key to supporting them to work...

Today at the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans: CINF: Community Sharing of Chemical Safety Data: Yes, No, Maybe? 8:20 AM River Bend 1, New Orleans Marriott Convention Center What’s all this fuss about data sharing? In search of improved laboratory safety Promoting safety culture through sharing – a Dow perspective Chemical and laboratory safety: The role of scholarly publishers Chemical safety data in the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics Safety sharing culture: Learning from the aviation industry Intermission Information/practice sharing forums among American Chemistry Council Member Companies Experiences with learning experience reports Balancing act: Protecting all interests Parsing the “lessons learned” space: Layers of opportunities and challenges Panel Discussion (yours truly will help moderate) Not in New Orleans? Join me for Safety Zone Live via Facebook to discuss the morning session with organizer Carmen Nitsche, who’s been working with the Pistoia Alliance to build the Chemical Safety Library. CHAS: Implementing ACS Safety Education Guidelines 1:30 PM Grand Salon D Sec 21, Hilton New Orleans Riverside Introductory Remarks The ACS safety culture journey: What next? Building the safety learning spiral One slice at a time: Do what you can whenever you can Developing a culture of safety in chemistry and biochemistry at Texas Woman’s University Intermission Importance of laboratory safety in chemistry curriculum Withdrawn RAMPing up the organic chemistry lab at a PUI: Developing a culture of safety and...

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The Safety Zone covers chemical safety issues in academic and industrial research labs and in manufacturing. It is intended to be a forum for exchange and discussion of lab and plant safety and accident information without the fanfare of a news article.